Followers

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

What's in a name?

In our family, we love what names mean. I'm not sure where that comes from. I don't think my parents chose names based on what their meaning was, only that they liked them. I was supposed to be Sarah Lynn. But my dad did not like it because it was too close to Sarah Lee, the snack cake lady. ;) So I became Katherine. Katherine in itself means "pure." Dave's name means "beloved." I'm not sure his mother chose his name based on it's meaning either. But for us, my main goal has been to pick a name that has a strong meaning for our children.

When I was pregnant with Kadin, it was a struggle to come up with a name that both of us liked. While cruising the internet baby name sites late one night with pregnancy insomnia, I came across the name Kadin. It is Arabic and means "Companion, friend." That described my relationship with Kadin to a T. When I was upset, he flailed about inside me. Twisting and turning until I had to focus completely on breathing and calming down. From the moment he was born, we were inseperable. Even today, if I am upset, he will sense it even if we are not in the same room. He is internally connected to me. My oldest son. When he was born in 1999, there were a little over 200 boys named Kadin in the USA. ALL of them were Caden (which means swampland by the way) and then my one Kadin. :) I loved that!

While pregnant with Cullen, I had a harder time with boy names. We were supposed to be having a girl and there weren't any boy names that really jumped out at me. We had settled on the name Gabriel. I'd have a Kade and a Gabe. But for some reason, it just didn't fit my little guy. Dave came up with the name Cullen based on an old war hero. It's Gaelic and means "Handsome." And when I gaze into my second son's eyes, I know that name fits like a glove. We named our little guy long before twilight and the Cullen's that have come since then.

With Liam, we vacillated between Fisher (my maiden name) and Liam. Liam is Gaelic as well and means "determined guardian." I felt that after all the low tech swaying we did to produce a girl child which was really a boy child, he was one determined boy! His name has fit him as well. He loves deeply, protects those close to his heart, and is such a joyful little guy. Again, his name was not popular at the time of his birth but has become more so since then.

With our daughter, the name was always going to be Delaney Katherine. Anyone who knows me, knows that was our name since 1999. In 2010, we gave that name to our miniature American Eskimo puppy. Otherwise known as Laney. :) Dave loved that name because it was Jimmy Buffet's daughter's name.

So when it came to naming our soon to be daughter, we were back at the beginning. Looking through baby name sites and books. Early on in our hunt, I was online and had jotted down a few names. I knew I wanted a Hebrew name. Or something religious. It seemed to fit where we are in our lives, and the journey that would bring her to us through adoption. While hunting, I came across the name Eliana (Elliana, Ellianna, Elianna). We have a friend who's daughter shares that same name. Although I loved it, I wanted to respect their naming their daughter that and move on to something else that wasn't used in our close circle. Elliana is the spelling I adored. The name is Hebrew and means "The Lord answers prayers." It was perfect, but I was moving on. Or so I thought. The site became stuck on that page. Each time I refreshed, it would stick again. Each time I would move forward on a page, it would move back. Then I shut the computer down and when it came back up, it was on that site, on that page, with that name again. I searched no longer and asked our friends if they minded if we used the same name. When God speaks, one needs to listen! :) So Elliana became our name for our little girl.

How do you chose names for your children? Do you look at the meaning? Shout it outside three times? Make an online poll? Use family names? I love to hear stories of how others name their kids. :)

(BTW, our cat's name is Lilly because she was born on Easter. She's our Easter Lilly. :) )

6 comments:

Amanda said...

With our first, we just liked the name Samantha. We didn't know anyone that had that name that we didn't like and her middle name (Alexis) is my mother's middle name. We also liked that her initials would spell her nickname - SAM.

With our second - the day before I took a pregnancy test, hubby flopped into bed next to me and said, "I think you're pregnant. And his name is Christian Michael." I laughed! Yes, we'd been trying, but I'd NEVER heard his say this name before! Michael is a family name of his, but nope, never heard him once say Christian before. But, I was completely willing to accept that name!

Grace Elizabeth was the name we had picked out for a girl if Christian was a she.

Patience Renee was the name we finally came up with 4 days after she was born. I REALLY wanted to name her Heaven Renee. Heaven meaning the place that God and Angels dwell and Renee means Born Again. I thought the two together was very fitting since we are born again believers to dwell in Heaven one day. :) But Shawn wouldn't have it.

So our names mean -

Shawn - is an Irish name meaning Shady Grove. (???)
Michael - means like God or who is like God.

Amanda - worthy to be loved
Jeanette - God is Gracious

Samantha - Listener of God
Alexis - Helper, Protector of mankind, Defender

Christian - Follower of Christ
Michael - Who is like God

Grace - Grace of God (Undeserved Favor)

Which I MUST say, that she IS our undeserved favor. She was a surprise baby and has the sweetest, calmest, most lovable personality. I feel so incredibly blessed to have her in our lives! Although I had an all out cry fest when I found out I was pg with her. Shawn had just started school again for his Masters and we were plum broke. I did NOT want another baby yet! I thought we'd wait 5 years and then maybe try....but God trumped our birth control. I am SO glad He did! I've said many times that I want 10 more JUST LIKE HER! Love that girl so much!

Elizabeth - consecrated to God

Patience - Enduring (or the virtue of patience)
Renee- born again or reborn

Amanda said...

Oh, and we only knew one person named Patience as well. She was Sara Beth for about 2 days until I finally said she just doesn't look like a Sara Beth, that wasn't going to work. Other names we tossed around were Rebecca, (I didn't like the nicknames), Ellie, I can't even remember them all now that we tossed around. But on the 4 day after she was born I was flipping through the baby name book and I said, half joking, Patience. And Shawn said YES! That's it! I said, "Wait what? Really?" I didn't really like it because it was so unusual and I was afraid people wouldn't like it or make fun of it. Shawn said he didn't care what people thought, it was his kid and he liked it and that's what he wanted to name her. :) So, that's how she became Patience. :)

MotheringBoys said...

I love it, Amanda! :)

Tif'sSEA said...

Shelby was supposed to be Emma Elizabeth... that was her name until I was almost 7 months along. Emma is my Nana's middle name and I've always loved it. Then I saw/heard the name Shelby on a t.v. commercial and it just clicked, so she is Shelby Emma. John and I couldn't agree on names for our other children, so we came to an agreement before we started trying for #2 (When Shel was 2). We decided that our next daughter would be Emily Elizabeth. Four years down the road we were pregnant (finally) and he found out the girl in the Clifford books is Emily Elizabeth and put the kabash on that middle name. Her middle name then became Grace. When we were expecting #3, it took us 7 1/2 months to decide on a name.... NOTHING worked for both of us. I like one, he hated and he liked one, then I hated it. He came home one night and said he liked "Ashley" and I said fine just as long as her middle name was Elizabeth (my middle name AND my great-grandmother's middle name). Funny thing.... we NEVER did think of any boy names... LOL

Unknown said...

love to see the connection between your kids and their names. God has always given us one name for each child - and He always gives us the right gender too!! It's amazing how their personalities fit their name. They have identified with the meanings of their name and do their best to fulfill this calling on their lives. We also like to honor a family member with their middle names.

mommy to many said...

love the meaning! our first is Josiah "Fire of God" (2)Timothy Christian" Honoring God. (3)Victoria Elizabeth: "victory and my God is an abundance"
4.(twin of tori)Sarah Grace: God clearly showed us that she was going to be our little princess that would show and walk in the Grace of GOd.. at the age of one she become our little brain cancer survivor!
(5) Matthew: gift of Yahweh.
YOUR STORY IS AMAZING BY THE WAY!